A SINKHOLE “big enough for a man to get in” appeared on a residential Burnham street.

A pothole, in Fairway Drive, began to crack and developed into a small crater.

By the time Essex County Council workmen and the police arrived last Thursday, the hole had broken up further to reveal a second deeper hole underneath.

Residents have been warned to move their cars off their driveway as a precaution.

Susan Davies, of Fairway Drive, reported the incident.

She said: “There was a deep groove in the road about a metre wide which Highways came out and put some purple marks around it. I was walking up the road with my dogs and I saw it had split in the middle.

“If a car had gone in it, it was not coming out of it.

“It was big enough for a man to get in it. I know it happens all around the world but you don’t expect it to happen on your road in Burnham.”

Another resident added: “Our neighbours have had to use our drive to park on as the hole is right in front of theirs. When it first opened up you couldn’t even tell how big or deep it was.

Maldon and Burnham Standard:

“It’s lucky these things get covered up fairly quickly. There would have been some younger kids in the area who would have happily jumped down to explore it, then who knows what would have happened.”

County Hall began an investigation to find the cause on Monday after being alerted to the road collapse at 4.30pm last Thursday.

A spokesman said: “Our crew attended immediately, and due to the size of the hole, put up safety barriers and coned off the area.

“An engineer went to the site again on Friday to check for any further collapse and ensure the area is safe.”